Hadleigh in Suffolk

Visit Hadleigh and the surrounding villages and stay in bed & breakfast accommodation:

Hadleigh, Suffolk. Not to be confused with its namesake in the neighbouring county of Essex, Hadleigh, formerly a wool town, lies on a tributary of the Stour. The Church of St Mary stands among a remarkable cluster of medieval buildings. Here you first notice the lead-covered spire, 72 ft tall, on top of the 64-ft tower. The tower is 14th century, the rest of the church mainly 15th century Outside the tower is a 13th century clock bell, perhaps the oldest in the county. Inside the church is an octagonal l4th century font, delicately carved with angels at each corner. A bench-end in the south chapel dates from the 14th century and depicts the legend which tells how a wolf found and guarded the head of St Edmund. There is an unusual brass engraved on both sides commemorating the martyr Rowland Taylor who was burnt at the stake in 1555 after the accession of Mary Tudor. An obelisk marks the spot where he was put to death. Legend has it that near a tomb in the south aisle lies the body of the Danish king, Guthrum, who was buried in A.D. 889.

West of the church is the Deanery Tower, the red-brick gatehouse of which is the only surviving feature of the palace built by Archdeacon Pykenham in 1495. Multi-sided turrets stand either side of an arched centre section which is three stories in height in contrast to the towers which are six.

Nearby is the timber-framed 15th century Guild-hall, which has been at various times a school and an almshouse.

Hadleigh contains an unusually large number of excellent houses dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Close to the market place is the former Town Hall of 1851, the Corn Exchange and the Congregational church. In the High Street, with its exceptional variety of fine buildings, is the White Lion Inn, and in George Street the Baptist chapel of 1830 and the Pykenham Almshouses of 1807. The station is early Victorian and there is a particularly good l7th century house at Nos. 62—66 High Street. Toppesfield Bridge spans the river with its three arches of medieval date.

One of East Anglia's finest sculptors, Thomas Woolner R.A., was born at Hadleigh in 1825. He was for some time a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and became a full member of the Royal Academy in 1874. Among his most famous monuments are those to Thomas Carlyle and Alfred Lord Tennyson in Westminster Abbey. He died in 1892.

Fr Hugh James Rose (1795—1838) was rector of Hadleigh from 1830 to 1833. A meeting held in the rectory In July 1833 was an important landmark in the beginning of the Oxford Movement.